Michael H. Rowe, Ph.D.

     There are two pathways carrying information from the eye to the brain.  One of these carries signals that are used to generate our conscious visual perceptions.  Signals carried by the other pathway do not produce conscious perceptions, but are used instead to direct our attention to particular objects in the environment and to coordinate the process of selective attention with appropriate eye and head movements.  Work in my laboratory is intended to understand the differences between these two kinds of signals emerging from the eye and how they are processed within the brain.  To accomplish this goal, the activity of individual neurons in the retina and the brain is recorded with microelectrodes while the neurons are presented with computer generated visual stimuli.  The responses of the cells to these stimuli are then analyzed to determine how the stimuli are represented in the   activity of the neurons along the visual pathways, and how the pathway responsible for conscious perception differs from the one that does not support conscious perception.

Selected References:

• Lankheet, M.J.M., M.H. Rowe, R.J.A. Van Wezel and W.A. Van de Grind (1996) Spatial and temporal properties of cat horizontal cells after prolonged dark adaptation.   Vision Research, 36:3955-3968.

• Lankheet, M.J.M, R.J.A. Van Wezel, M.H. Rowe and W.A. Van de Grind (1996) Horizontal cell sensitivity in the cat retina during prolonged dark adaptation. Visual Neuroscience 13:885-896.

• Grind, W.A. Van de, M.J.M. Lankheet, R.J.A. Van Wezel, M.H. Rowe and J. Hulleman (1996) Gain control and hyperpolarization level in cat horizontal cells as a function of light and dark adaptation.   Vision Research 36:3969-3986.

• Cox, J.F. and M.H. Rowe (1996) Linear and non-linear contributions to step responses in cat retinal ganglion cells.  Vision Res. 36:2047-2060.

• Rowe, M.H. and L.A. Palmer (1995) Spatio-temporal receptive field structure of phasic W-cell in the cat retina.  Visual Neuroscience 12:117-139.